Windows Server 2016 support ends on 12 January 2027: what it means for your SAP Business One® server

Microsoft’s extended support for Windows Server 2016 ends on 12 January 2027. After that date the server gets no more security updates, unless you pay for Extended Security Updates. If your SAP Business One server, or the SQL Server under it, runs on Windows Server 2016, that server holds all your company data, so plan the change now.

SAP’s Platform Support Matrix of 28 August 2026 still lists Windows Server 2016 for SAP Business One 10.0. The change on 12 January is on Microsoft’s side.

First, check what you run

Write down three things for every machine that runs SAP Business One server components or its SQL Server:

• the Windows Server version,
• the SQL Server version,
• the SAP Business One version and feature pack (in the client: Help > About).

Then compare them with the two tables below.

The dates that matter

Source: Microsoft’s lifecycle pages for Windows Server 2016 and each product above.

What SAP Business One 10.0 supports

SQL Server 2016 can’t come along to Windows Server 2022 or 2025: Microsoft doesn’t support it there. A combination that both Microsoft and SAP support is Windows Server 2022 or 2025 with SQL Server 2019 or 2022.

If your SAP Business One version is too old for the SQL Server version you want, SAP’s order is: upgrade SAP Business One first, then SQL Server.

Sources: SAP Business One Platform Support Matrix (version 1.39); Microsoft, SQL Server in Windows operating systems.

Your three options

1. Move to a new server

A new Windows Server 2022 or 2025 machine with SQL Server 2019 or 2022, and SAP Business One moved across. It is the option with the most SAP Business One steps (see the next section).

2. Upgrade Windows in place

Microsoft supports an in-place upgrade with installation media from Windows Server 2016 to 2019, 2022 or 2025. Before you choose it:

• If SQL Server 2016 runs on that machine, it is not supported on Windows Server 2022 or 2025, so SQL Server has to be upgraded too.
• Each Windows Server upgrade needs its own license, and the edition stays the same (Standard to Standard).
• Microsoft says to back up first, and not every server role supports an in-place upgrade.
• We found no SAP page on upgrading Windows in place under an installed SAP Business One. Try it on a copy of the server first.

Source: Microsoft, Plan your Windows Server upgrade path.

3. Buy time with Extended Security Updates

Microsoft offers Extended Security Updates for Windows Server 2016 through Azure Arc, for up to three years, through 2030:

• You can set them up in the Azure portal now; billing starts on 13 January 2027.
• They need Software Assurance through a Volume Licensing program, or a server licensed through SPLA or a Server Subscription.
• They give Critical and Important security updates only: no new features, no requested non-security fixes, and no technical support beyond the updates.
• Microsoft’s ESU FAQ calls the program a last resort and a temporary bridge.

Use them as a bridge to option 1 or 2, not as the plan. Source: Microsoft, Extended Security Updates through Azure Arc.

Moving SAP Business One to a new server: what to plan for

We found no single “move to a new server” procedure in SAP’s Administrator’s Guide. These are the parts it does document:

• Back up everything first: the company databases, the system database SBOCOMMON and the shared folder B1_SHR.
• License: a new Windows installation, or a new name for the license server, changes the hardware key, and a changed hardware key needs a new license key. You request it in SAP’s support launchpad with the new hardware key, which needs an authorized user. If your partner manages your licenses, tell them early.
• License assignments: SAP describes backing up the user license assignment (the files B1Upf.xml and B1LicenseFile-<installation number>.txt in the License Service folder of the server tools) and copying them back after the new license server has started.
• Server tools and addresses: the Components Wizard has a reconfiguration mode that changes the server’s address, the System Landscape Directory (SLD) address and port, the license server and the database server.
• Companies: they only show on the logon screen once the new database instance is registered in the SLD Control Center (DB Instances and Companies tab).
• Clients: SAP documents that a newly installed desktop client asks for the SLD address and port on first logon. It doesn’t say how existing clients find a new SLD address, so plan to check each workstation.
• Attachments folder: set it again in Administration > System Initialization > General Settings, Path tab. If it sits on another machine, the machine that runs the SBO Mailer needs read and write access to the share.
• Everything else: we found no SAP page on re-pointing picture and template folders, Crystal Reports layouts and data sources, or third-party add-ons. List them on the old server before you start.

Server names for SAP Business One may contain only letters, digits and hyphens.

While you plan: SAP Business One’s own timeline

SAP lists version 10.0 in mainstream maintenance until 31 December 2028 (dates subject to change), with version 11 to follow; that page gives no date for it. Source: SAP, Maintenance for SAP Business One.

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